Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1396, 21 January 1873, Page 2

The Burletta Troupe' performed again last night to a very poor house, owing principally to the inclement state of the weather. We believe that the entertainment will not be repeated this evening, but that on Wednesday evening, assisted by the Ste-phengon-Burford Company, the drama of " The Hunchback " will be produced* We have to draw the attention of the Moss Guardian to a serious error which ap. pears in a paragraph reprinted from this journal, with reference to the magnificent cake of gold from the Golden Fleece Claim. In a short paragraph, in three instances the ; thousands are left out. This appears curious, as the value of the cake is given correctly, as well as the amount of the dividend distributed amongst the shareholders. The second anniversary of the Presbyterian Church Sunday School was celebrated in tbe church last night. The Rev. Mr M'Jntosh presided, and there was a large muster of children accompanied by their parents, teachers, and others interested in tne progress of the Sunday School, so thatthe buildu»i was well tilled. After the annual report by the Superintendent had been read and approved of, the distribution of prizes was proceeded with. The Rev. Mr M'lntosh : presented the first lot, Mr Kerr the second, and Mr Moutray the third These were all prizes for merit. Mr Savage then presented the prizes for music, Mr F. Hamilton pre-

•tented a lot of handsome and really valuable prizes at his own cost to the children who, luring the year, had induced other children who had never attended any Sunday School to accompany theni. A presentation >f a family-bible, iti two volumes, illustrated, was then made to Mr Savage, Superintendent of the School, from the Committee, but on behalf of the children, for the highly satisfactory manner in which he had. conducted, the school during the past year. In reply. Mr Savage expressed'ins thanks for the presentation, and briefly complimented the teachers who had assisted him in conducting the school. The proceedings were agreeably interspersed with music, the singing of a number o£ hymns by the children, and the liberal distribution of refreshments, which were supplied by a few of the ladies of the congregation. After passing a very agreeable evening, the proceedings were closed by grayer by the Rev Mr M'lntosh. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, George Simpson was charged with escaping from the lawful custody of the bailiff It was proved that the defendant was arrested in the bar of Hanney's Hotel and ran away, but was afterwards arrested by Sergeant Moller. Mr Perkins, for the defendant, argued that the warrant, which was issued on the Nelson side of the river, was informal, and as the Magistrate agreed with him, the information was dismissed. Diptheria has been very prevalent in the vicinity of Rangiora, Canterbury, during the past few weeks. It has, in nearly eveiy instance, attacked children, and its ravages have proved fatal *hi several instances. A farmer named Barrell residiag near the Woodend road has lost three of his children from the above cause during a very short space of time. We find upon inquiry that we were somewhat in error in stating in our last thai the up-country coach reached Ahaura after an absence of "eight days." Ib was'thieat the Ahaura on Tuesday, but did not reach, there till Friday, owing to the roads being inundated through the recent floods and rainfall. On Thursday next Mr Kennedy is to move in the County Council :—" That in the opinion of this Council the construction of the proposed Greymouth and Brunuer Railway, would be the means of developing those well-known and valuable coal measures situate at Brunnerton, as it is a work of colonial importance, and should be commenced as early a3 possible. That a copy of this resolution be telegraphed to the Colonial Secretary by the County Chairman." The shareholders in the Golden Fleece Quartz-Mining Company, Inangahua, after deducting all working expenses, and leaving a balance on hand, divided at the rate of L 440 per full share as the result of tbe last crushing. An additional parcel of 28oz of amalgam has been obtained from the blanket washings, &c, after being passed through the berdan. The annual meeting of the Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade resulted in the election of the following officers : — Captain, Jehu Hughes; Lieutenant, T. Bailie; Foreman of the i? ose Company, Edward Quigley ; Foreman of the Hook and Ladder Company, J. Franks ; Foreman of the Fire Company, James Powell; Engineer, H. M'Farlane; Treasurer, T. W. Humphrey; Secretary, W.- Fagg. "We are informed that of all the immigrants imported by Messrs Brogden for the construction of the Southland railways, scarcely one has remained on the works to fulfil his contract with the 6rm. However embarrassing this may be to the contractors, it certainly affords tbe strongest possible proof that New Zealand is a first-plass country for the laboring emigrant from the old world. When the -working claaoco in tho United Kingdom are told— as we trust they will be by the Agent^General — that the: terms offered by Messrs Brogden are not sufficiently tempting to keep the men true to their engagements, they will at price see that the laborer iri New Zealand is sure of obtaining a very full value in return for his work. The simple recital of such a fact as is here noted, ought to do more good than half-a-dozen lectures on the general benefiijof emigration. Amongst the schedules filed in tne Sydney Insolvency Court on the 9th ultimo is the following : — Alexander Bryce Bain, of Syd* ney, late of the Thames Gold Field, New Zealand. Liabilities, L 2970 12s 9d ; assets, L 92 ; deficiency, L 2878 12s 9d. The A jax Company at Reefton ceased operations- on Wednesday last, after putting through about sixty tons of stone with the usual result. The suspension of work is, wa understand, owing to the arrival of Mr Hall from Auckland with a staff. All hands have been knocked off with the exception of Mr James, the mining, manager. An ingenious method of rewarding humble merit has -been devised by the Taranalti Ritle Association. At their last rifle meeting, the lowest scorer was presented with » medal made of tin, about ten inches in circumference, with the alphabet around the rim, and the portrait of a donkey in the centre. Another well-defined seam of coal, 20ft thicu, has been discovered up the Ngakawhau river, about two and a half miles from the present mine. The coal resembles precisely the Mount Roehfort coal, and is very easily workable. The seam, is gut by the Mine < 'reek, and makes the fourth welUder fined seam found in that locality.. The whole Ngakawhau district is evidently a vast coal bed, of which.. the measures will be traced until they unite with tne Mount Rbchfort mine. On Tuesday morning Langdon's Inangahua punt, which had broken adrift, sailed down the river and out at the northern channel. As it crossed the bar it was bidden in tbe breakers, and was supposed to have sunk there, but it was, during the day, discovered ! by Mr T. Jones near the beach at the flaxmill, Werita Creek, and with assistance he was able to drag ijt ashore. The deck fittings and rails were damaged, but the boats forming the hull of the punt were little injurec". An inquest was held at noon last Saturday, at the Butchers' Arms Hotel, Revell street, Hokibika, before Dr Garland, coroner, on the body of Isabella Do well. The jury brought in a verdict that death was caused by disease of the heart. The advent of a new sect is announced. They call themselves the ''Howling Repentants." Regarding the world as a howling wilderness, they use it accordingly. They howl at all "convenient" periods of the day, and at two periods in the night. They are said to be rapidly gaining converts in London. The Parqa sub committee to the Grey River Hospital have taken the preliminary steps to carry out tlie business for wUiflb. they were elected, viz^, to collect subscriptions in aid of the Greymouth Hospital for the current year. They seem, however, not to enter on their duties with the same spirit that they did last year, there being only four members present at a mcetiug at Paroa on Saturday, out of a committee of eight elected, Buttbismay.be accounted for by the faofc that two of thp members, Messrs Giles and Steel have left tbe Coast, arid two others, Messrs Waugh and Collins, not bejng within a sufficiently convenient digtanpe to attend ; stiil, it is to bo Loped that when the time arrives for th"tu to canvass, they will show tbtt t'iey Mill hi.- equal to the task they have t^'-xii upoji tli- selves to perform. The member*- jjvosent ai he meeting were — Messrs Coltou, *J'Counor, M'Gillicudtly and

■ bglis, and the business consisted, of electing ;reasurei and secretary ( tfrCoftqh as trea3nrer and Mr O'Connor secretary), and iiyiding -ithe district /'"ito convenient portions for. the members to canvkss. ' It . was. agreed that Messrs Colton and" M'GitUiciucldy should take between Paroa and the town boundary ; Messrs Waugh and Collins, the Welshman's and Rutherglen ; and Mr Inglis, the Lagoon Lead and Tere makan. The secretary got instructions to request Mr E. Hopkins to assist Mr Inglis and Mr P. Eagan to collect from the .residents in Cameron's terrace and Candlelight The next meeting will he held on March Ist, when the members will be required to give in their lists, so that they can choose the most convenient time for themselves and the residents between now and that date to collect. It is anticipated that the amount will not fall short of that collected last year. Before the meeting closed, Mr Colton explained the necessity of supporting the hospital, and urged the members present to leave no stone unturned to make the sub-scription-list a respectable one. He also said that the residents of this district had the same opportunity of getting up a ball or concert in aid of the institution, as those in other districts, and therefore he should propose, as soon as the subscription-lists are closed, that something of that sort be done. „ The Charleston paper tfiat a meat famine has once again visited Charleston, there being nearly a total absence of beef or mutton for the past five or six days. In the next issue we find the following : — Hunted to death by their customers, whose clamor i for meat was becoming loud and furious, the butchers succeeded, after much trouble and I at great expense in hunting to death one or two locally bred and locally fed animals; and I once again arrayed their meat hooks with joints which, if not very prime, were at lea it prized. A rush set in by an infuriated and hungry mob to "sectire the shadow ere the substance faded,", and but. a few short minutes elapsed before the whole of the meat, bone's arid all, were posted to order, when there was a hurrying to and fro and mounting in hot haste," delivery being, made with all possible speed. A few short houis, however, and once agaiu silence reigned supreme —a deep-seated quiet which has scarcely siuce been broken, and which was not finally terminated until Monday las% and the arrival of the St Eilda at Westport. We regret to h*ve to record a fatal case of sunstroke, which took place on Thursday last, to the second son of Mr William Eyre, in front of his father's house in Victoria street. Auckland. The poor little fellow, who was only eight years old, lingered until about half-past ten o'clock at night, when be expired. The cause of death in the medical certificate was ascribed to concussion of the brain. During. this hot weather parents cannot be too careful in compelling their children to wear some covering for their heads when out in the sun. With regard to the progress of the dispute between the Superintendent of Nelson and the General Government, on the subject of the Brunner Coal-mine, the Wellington Independent, of the 9th instant, says : — *' We are informed that at a Cabinet Council held on Tuesday, the Government, after careful consideration of the whole question in dispute with the Superintendent of Nelson regarding the Brunner Coal Railway, agreed to accept most of the modifications proposed by hf r Curtis in the agreement for giving the mine as security for the cost of the' railway, more particularly as to the minumum quantity of coal to be produced. The minimum has now been reduced from 50,0C0 tons annually to 30,000 cons. As the matter now stands, the whole responsibility with regard to the work being proceeded with will rest upon Mr Curtis, as practically his proposed modifications of the agreement have been acceded to. The whole of the rails and rolling stock for the line are on the way, arid if no further hitch occurs, the line may be opened for traffic in twelve months. We understand that the contract is under offer to Messrs Brogden, who have until the end of this month to prepare their tender." As doubts were still being cast upon the malleability of the puddled balls of iron turned out of the furnaces at Onehunga by Messrs Sutton and Co, an experiment was made the other day at Mr Masefield's Foundry, Auckland, to pu.t the doubts as to its malleability at rest. One of the puddled balls, weighing about 401bs, was placed in the fire of a large forge. When sufficiently heate ' it was taken out of the fire and placed under the steam hammer, when it is heartily pounded. It was thus drawn out into a bar ; ifc was then broken and welded again, and. at last hammered into a square bar, with a diameter of about 2iin. The test was s6 thorough that the last lingering doubt about the success of the experiment was dispelled from the minds of everyone preg<int, amongst whom were Messrs Creighton, W? Swarisooj Roe f Gibbons, &q. We understand that Mr Masefjeld had' little hopes of tlie experiment succeeding when he first saw tne ball to be operated upon, but when the hammered bar left his shop he said the iron was of that quality that he would unhesitatingly use it for his best work. He desdribes the metal as something between iron arid steel, easy to work, and capable ot being worked into any article that might be required. He considers that the difficulty of smelting the iron-sand has been perfectly overcoma, and that it only requires the application of sufficient capital to work the principle upon 'a large Scale to test its commercial success. ■The immigration question is occupying a large share of public attention in Auckland. The New Zealand Herald in its remarks upon the articles upon the management of immigration in London which : have appeared j in; various papers in this and the Southern i provinces says :— •• Unless the. Government undertakes to send out immigrants to this province at the rate of not less than §000 souls annually, we 'may as well abandon all hope of keeping pace with our industrial reqiiirements. As for keeping pace with Cook Strait settlements and the Middle Island that would now appear to be out ef the question. From whatever cause it has happened Auckland is the only province in New Zealand which, is not progressing. We simply state the fact that whereas rapid and substantial progress is the rule elsewhere in the colony, stagnation, and despondency reign supreme in Auckland." The Herald regards immigration as the best remedy for that state of things, and blames the Provincial Government for its apathy in the matter. Now that the Minister cf Lands and Immigration is an Auckland man it may be expected that steps will be takgnto satisfy the requirements of. the province. 1 The announcement in late telegrams from Dunedin that the Hon. John Hall intended to resign bis seat in the Cabinet and proceed to England is perfectly correct. Mr Hall has for a long t|me desired to visit the old country wkh his family, and he will proceed in one of the wool ships from Canterbury, and expects to be .absent about a year. There is not the slightest political significance attached to, Mr Hall's temporary retirement. His absence from the' Cabinet which his great experience and official industry have so greatly strengthened, will be a public loss, and the Legislature will also miss him next session. Mr Hall's absence, however, will not be for long, and it is to be hoped that on his return he will again place his valuable services at the disposal of the oolony. We are not aware what ■armngements are likely to be made for supplying Mr Hall's place in the Government.]